Galatians

Belonging to Christ. 3:25-29

In this letter so far, Paul has argued that the person who rests on the faithfulness of God in Christ, apart from the law, is an inheritor of God's promised blessings. In the passage before us, Paul evidences this fact by pointing out that the promised blessing of a worldwide people of God is even now being realized in Christ, and this without regard to the requirements of Old Testament law.

v25. With the coming of Christ, the seed of Abraham, God's covenant community is no longer held prisoner to the Mosaic law with its attached curse, constantly holding Israel to account and denying its possession of the Abrahamic promise. On the basis of what Christ done for us on the cross ("now that faith has come"), the promised blessings are now all ours for the asking, and this apart from the law.

v26. This is obvious since at this very moment all members of the Galatian church, both Jews, as well as Gentiles, have found Christ, are incorporated in Christ, are now sons of God. The Galatian believers have realized in Christ the promises given to Abraham all those years ago and none of this has anything to do with law obedience.

v27. All believers are sons of God, and this because we are identified with Christ in his death and resurrection, are one with him, immersed in him, clothed with him.

v28. Since we are all one in Christ, we are all of the same family, and so the old distinctions of birth are no more.

v29. Given that believers are identified with Christ through faith, they are all God's children and as such "are children of Abraham", 3:7-9, that is, all believers are Abraham's heirs. Believers are "heirs according to the promise", heirs of God's promises made to Abraham all those years ago. Those who are united to Christ on the basis of what Christ has done on the cross, have received the promises offered to Abraham: a place, a family, a blessing - "new life", eternally ours!

1. "faith" in v25 is "the faith", the age of faith. This age rests on Christ's faith, that is, his faithful obedience to the Father on our behalf, and our faith in his faithfulness. Discuss.

2. Why are we no longer under the law with regard its function as a temporary strict disciplinarian? Although "Mosaic Law has no further restrictive role to play, this does not mean the end of divine law as a the guiding motif for life within the New Covenant", Dumbrell; discuss.

3. How does a person appropriate God's promise of new life?

There are many formulas around which promise spiritual maturity. Those who try to sell full-sanctification, a full-gospel, or full something or other, do so by pointing to an extra in the Christian walk. They will argue that if we apply the extra then the blessing is ours. Those who are into extras find it difficult to accept that a believer has already inherited every spiritual blessing of sonship, and that this inheritance is a gift of God's free grace. Those selling full-blessings argue that the blessings come only with the application of the extra. The extra may be the baptism of the Holy Spirit, a sacramental rite of some kind, believer's baptism, church attendance on the Sabbath, non denominationalism, simplicity, etc., .......

One of the old Billy Graham tracts had a drawing of the cross over a mighty chasm. The world was on one side of the gorge and heaven on the other. Even the best high jumper could not jump it. The only way to get across the chasm was via the cross of Christ. Out of fun we used to draw a little segment on the end of the cross that just touched the "heaven" side of the gorge. Then we listed off all the little extras that believers come up with, the essential extras to the cross. As an Anglican I put Confirmation as my extra, although my real extra was obedience. Sadly, for many years I believed that the cross wasn't quite enough in itself. My obedience was the necessary extra.

For Paul's opponents in the church at Galatia, the extra was complete submission to the Mosaic law. It was, in a sense, a form of pietism, nomism, the idea that the Christian life advances by means of a faithful submission to God's law. In our passage for study Paul proclaims the glorious consequences of grace alone. A believer, resting on the faithfulness of Christ, is united to Christ and is therefore counted as an inheritor of the promises given to Abraham, a place, a family, a blessing - "new life" in all its fullness.

There is danger in seeking an extra over what is already complete in Christ. Not only is there the danger of undermining spiritual maturity, but quite possibly the undermining of salvation itself. To move from God's free grace is to move from life to death. Look to Christ and him alone!